Butte County Volunteer Group Wins National BLM Recognition

The Upper Ridge Wilderness Association, a Butte County volunteer group, has received a 2013 "Making a Difference" award for "lifetime achievement" in volunteer work supporting the public lands.

The group was among seven recipients nationwide of the annual award offered by the U. S. Bureau of Land Management.

"Members of the Upper Ridge group have provided outstanding service as the principal caretakers of the BLM's Upper Ridge Nature Preserve near Magalia for more than 27 years," said Jennifer Mata, manager of the BLM's Redding Field Office. "While their group is small in number, they have taken on everything from trail construction to brochure development. Significantly, they are instrumental in the annual Trail Days event, a weeklong environmental education event for fifth graders who use the nature preserve as their outdoor classroom."

BLM officials said the group's work on the 120-acre preserve has provided increased public land recreation opportunities in the Magalia area. Their contributions are valued at more than quarter million dollars.

The BLM recognizes its most exceptional volunteers whose efforts include trail repair, visitor services, habitat restoration and many other duties, in the annual Making a Difference Award.

This year's awards were presented at a recognition event via live video conference hosted the BLM's headquarters in Washington, D.C. The event included remarks from Sally Jewell, Secretary of the Interior; Neil Kornze, Principal Deputy Director of the BLM; and Carl Rountree, Assistant Director for the BLM's National Landscape Conservation System and Community Partnerships.

"Volunteer efforts – the seeing, the doing, and the leading – have helped us to fulfill that responsibility on the public lands," Kornze said. "Your labors have made a lasting imprint, and you have left a legacy for others to follow."